Kevin Rolle Alabama is currently the COO at the Alabama A and M University, his job is to help ensure that everyone is safe, well and learning in that establishment, amongst other things.
A COO is a member of the organizations team of executives. Their role is to ensure that the business runs smoothly on a day to day basis. It sounds quite simple when put like that doesn’t it? But what does that entail I hear you cry.
A COO is second in company to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the COO task is to ensure that everything is in place for the business to run smoothly so this includes operations, controls, reporting procedures and then individual elements such as safeguarding in schools and so on.
As their role is to ensure that the business runs smoothly then there isn’t really a single definitive list of anything and everything that a COO’s job might entail. Thus I think you are aware when you take the role that you are prepared to do whatever is reasonable and required to ensure that success is achieved each day.
The reasons that a COO is required are to
- Ensure that executive strategies are put into place throughout the building
- Compliment the CEO in terms of style, ethos and attitude
- Give the CEO an extra pair of hands if they are struggling with the immense workload
- As a way to promote or include someone that is seen as a great asset to the business.
To land a job as a COO this will depend on your education, experience and also maybe who you know or who you have impressed through your business career. It is likely that you will have, at least, a Bachelors degree preferably in a business-related field and many prefer you to have a Master’s degree in a business-related field.
Wide-ranging experience is the next requirement, a proven success record and at least fifteen years in business with the last five years in a position in senior management. You need to show that you have proven leadership skills and excel at logical thinking and problem solving. The usual skills of delegation, risk-assessment, compliance, managing people, communication, negotiation skills, dealing with conflict and an all-round persona as someone who is approachable and reliable are also requirements for this role.
In the whole of the US there are just under four hundred thousand people working as COO’s or CEO’s. There average salary per year is just under two hundred thousand pounds but this can vary significantly based on the size and the nature of the business they are working in along with how successful it is and how much profit it makes. The bad news is that the role of COO is in decline, as people face the pinch of recession and also the rise in work that can be done via technology then the COO is one of the positions that is likely to go, putting more pressure or other executives and the CEO.
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